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The accountant for Palmer Limited, a sheet metal sub-contractor, has been asked to provide a monthly cash budget along with the projected income statement and balance sheet for her client. The request came about because the banker is concerned about whether Palmer Limited can repay its loan.

The concept of customer relationship management (CRM) and why it is important is examined in this note. It also examines the implementation process: corporate culture and strategy, software providers, technology and ways to measure the success of a CRM program. Many traditional bricks-and-mortar businesses are creating electronic commerce operations, therefore traditional CRM has expanded to include doing business on the Internet and this note looks at electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) as well. Also included are some examples of companies that have successfully implemented a CRM program, a list of CRM software vendors and examples of CRM software solutions.

Western Area Youth Services is a children's mental health centre and non-profit organization. Recently the board of directors spent a great deal of time discussing the implications of a significant potential liability for staff salaries. A merger was identified as a possible solution and the executive director of the centre was instructed by the board to begin the process of seeking a possible merger partner for the agency. She wonders how she might initiate the process on behalf of the board and what she should look for in a potential partner. She also wonders how a merger might benefit the agency at this point in time.

A learning team of five students must work together to complete a 48-hour team exam. When the team members convene to write their report, one of the students shows up eight hours late. The report outline is nearly complete, yet he insists on questioning the work and offering uninvited comments. When he is left alone to work on the editing process, his progress is slow, the master copy of the report is corrupted and many spelling and grammatical errors are missed. The irritation level builds to loud arguments in the middle of the night. This is a supplement to Juan Pedro's Shrimp Farm: Or the 48-hour Exam Nightmare (A), product 9B02C057, which discusses the process of the competitive 48-hour exam, the reputation of the fifth student and the initial meeting of team. Supplement Juan Pedro's Shrimp Farm: Or the 48-hour Exam Nightmare (B), product 9B02C058, describes the first hour after the student arrives to work on the report and supplement Juan Pedro's Shrimp Farm: Or the 48-hour Exam Nightmare (D), product 9B02C060, an interview, conducted several months later, provides the student's perspective on the events.

A learning team of five students must work together to complete a 48-hour team exam. When the team members convene to write their report, one of the students shows up eight hours late. The report outline is nearly complete, yet he insists on questioning the work and offering uninvited comments. The irritation level builds to loud arguments in the middle of the night. In this supplement, the fifth student is interviewed to provide his perspective on the events. This is a supplement to Juan Pedro's Shrimp Farm: Or the 48-hour Exam Nightmare (A), product 9B02C057, which discusses the process of the competitive 48-hour exam, the reputation of the fifth student and the initial meeting of the team. Supplement Juan Pedro's Shrimp Farm: Or the 48-hour Exam Nightmare (B), product 9B02C058, describes the first hour after the student arrives to work on the report, and supplement Juan Pedro's Shrimp Farm: Or the 48-hour Exam Nightmare (C) product 9B02C059 describes the student's attempt to contribute to the report and the subsequent confrontation.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) is one of the 10 largest full-service financial institutions in North America. Its human resources department wanted to reinvent HR service delivery and increase automation and self-service operations. A number of options were being considered, including continuing with the status quo while undertaking patchwork operations, developing new HR capabilities in-house, outsourcing the development of HR capabilities, and exploring the opportunity to outsource entire functions. Each option presents benefits and challenges, and the senior lead on the project must begin to develop a business case to go forward. The supplemental case CIBC: Outsourcing the Human Resources Department (B), product 9B02C063 discusses the human resources outsourcing agreement.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was the first major financial institution in Canada and among the first in North America to team up with an external supplier to manage its human resource operations and technology services. As such, the company required a carefully structured contract that included the necessary requirements and at the same time left room for flexibility and change. This is a supplement to CIBC Human Resources (A), product 9B02C062.

In the early 2000s, the new director of logistics at Holt Renfrew, a high-end retailer of men's and women's fashions, has been asked to prepare a detailed plan for dealing with the company's $40 million warehoused inventory and its chronic stock out problems. Given the opportunity to prove how logistics can benefit the company's profit margin, the director prepares a three-fold strategy: improve the physical layout and process flow in the distribution center, upgrade the distribution systems and business processes, and re-allocate human resources. His challenge is augmented by the need to receive merchandise from international suppliers and distribute it quickly to compete in the fast-paced fashion industry.

A venture capital firm needs to allocate $50 million in capital. Due to the firm's below-average performance and the currently sluggish financial market, a strategic allocation of this capital is critical to the firm's survival. The chief executive officer turns to his senior management team for advice. One team leader identifies firms for follow-on investments, a second team leader recommends new investments and the third team leader proposes a buy-out opportunity. The chief executive officer must decide whether the restrictions on the number of new investments is too limiting, whether due diligence is required on additional new companies and what the impact will be on the firm's return if a balanced portfolio is maintained. (Data and Solver model are available, products 7B02E012 and 5B02E12.)

A senior manager in a U.S. manufacturing firm must make a recommendation about whether 57 labour intensive jobs should be moved from the existing California plant to a new facility in a Mexican maquiladora. If the Mexican opportunity is pursued, decisions are also required regarding the entry mode (subcontracting, shelter operator or wholly-owned subsidiary) and location (border or interior).

VanCity has been Canada's biggest success story in the field of community banking. The board of directors must consider whether the credit union should venture into mezzanine financing, a competitive industry in which the organization has no prior experience. The proposal is favored by a board member who feels that the credit union can re-invent itself in the marketplace by following this route. The decision is troublesome because even if it makes economic sense there is an issue of whether it will achieve organizational fit with VanCity's overall culture and employee orientation.

Selkirk Group is a family-owned brick manufacturer which has built an export business to Japan and other Asian markets from zero to 10% of its volume in seven years. The managing director of the company raises the question of whether it is time to change their regional export strategy and organizational structure in light of the Asian economic crisis and the reasons for their competitive success in both Australia and Asia.

Vivosonic is a start-up biomedical company that needs to raise $565,000 to continue research and development of its biomedical devices. The executive director of a venture capital firm feels Vivosonic's technology is sound but the costs for the company would be high. He must decide whether or not to invest in the company and determine what the best terms and conditions are for the deal.

Air New Zealand is a national airline faced with a number of important strategic and financial issues. The company's recent acquisition of Ansett Australia had proved to be disastrous and a severe financial drain for Air New Zealand. Key issues facing Air New Zealand include the long-term strategic positioning of the business, and determining anticipated financing needs, the appropriate gearing ratio or capitalization (debt-to-equity) rate, and available sources of financing. A recent research report had summarized two fundamental questions that impacted on the company's stock price and needed to be addressed: Would the New Zealand government relax Air New Zealand's ownership restrictions in order to allow Singapore Airlines to increase its stake from 25 per cent to 49 per cent? If so, would any proposal fix Air New Zealand's balance sheet to allow Air New Zealand and Ansett to once again become viable airline competitors? Supplement to this case is Air New Zealand: The Recapitalization Decision (B), product number 9B02N020.

A scientist at a well-known university has been working for several years on the development of a drug that is a treatment for a particular type of cancer. He has successfully completed all pre-clinical trials and has filed an application for an investigational new drug. Once the application has been accepted by the Food and Drug Administration, the scientist plans to embark on a series of clinical trials. Although his work to this point has been financed by research grants and personal funds, he now needs to obtain more substantial financing from a venture capitalist. However, the scientist does not know what his fledgling company is worth.

This is a supplement to Air New Zealand: The Recapitalization Decision (A), product 9B02N017. The chairman of Air New Zealand is chairing the company's first annual meeting and is faced with a number of financial and strategic issues that have an impact on the survival of the airline.

Timbercreek Investments Inc. is a small investment company that specializes in the management and acquisition of income-producing real estate. For an upcoming directors meeting, the director of acquisitions must make a recommendation on the financial needs of the company for the fiscal year. With considerable growth over the past two years, the company would need additional funds to pay for the increase in operating expenses. He must analyse the company's financial statement and decide whether the company should obtain a bank loan, ask the partners to contribute further equity or approach investors.

As a startup in the online sales incentives industry, SalesDriver had a unique product to offer: online sales contests. From its early stages, SalesDriver had a great product, e-tailer relationships and initial customers who were pleased with the service. What SalesDriver needed was personnel. SalesDriver's two co-founders were facing several challenges. They were both young and making their first independent leap into the dot-com industry. With limited funding and no hiring experience, they needed to put together a staff for their company and wanted to do so within a two-week time frame. Their first need was to hire a vice-president of sales, but their candidate of preference had 15 other job offers on his plate, so time was of the essence. How much should they offer? What incentives should they include? What kind of fit would they have as a working team and would they even have enough time to assess that fit? The two friends and business partners were faced with the difficult challenge of working out a winning offer that would persuade the right person to accept a position in their very young company.

The marketing manager for a hockey team has been told by senior management that revenues for the next season must increase or the franchise will be sold. The previous year's high-budget advertising campaign did not bring in the single-ticket sales results he expected. A database of past ticket holders is available and the question arises how to use this database. Using pivot tables, and recency, frequency and monetary value analyses, he must determine how to increase the return on the marketing investment. An Excel spreadsheet, product 7B02A022, is also available.

Casino gaming companies such as MGM Mirage, Harrah's and Park Place Entertainment, in addition to their traditional land-based casino properties, must consider the potential impact of Internet gambling on their existing operations. It appears that several Internet gaming companies have been quite successful and that the global market potential could be significant. Each of the United States gaming companies has taken very conservative approaches to Internet gaming in an effort to maintain their long-standing relationships with their respective state gaming authority. However, non-traditional casino companies have developed off-shore Internet gaming operations to circumvent traditional land-based gaming regulations. Going forward, traditional gaming companies will need to consider the possible legalization of Internet gaming on a large scale and how they would respond.